<\/p>\n
I am ashamed to admit this, but after several months in this gorgeous little mountain town of Colorado, I finally got out there for my first honest-to-goodness hike.\u00a0 <\/span>And by \u201chike\u201d I mean no macadam roads, more than an hour of walking, in a woods, up a mountain, and probably should have brought some water with me.<\/p>\n It\u2019s strange because I think of myself as a nature girl.\u00a0 <\/span>I am surely a country girl. I love Nature with a passion.\u00a0 <\/span>But sadly, I am also a bit of a creature of habit.\u00a0 <\/span>I do have an adventurous side.\u00a0 <\/span>I have traveled alone several thousand miles across the country or to another country and with barely enough money to survive.\u00a0 <\/span>That qualifies as adventurous, right?\u00a0 <\/span>But I also get stuck in these ruts.\u00a0 <\/span>For instance, I love being outside on beautiful days, but I find myself hanging inside way too long and way too much.\u00a0 <\/span>What\u2019s that about, eh?\u00a0 <\/span>I am determined to change this default sedentariness in my life and get out and enjoy this world as much as I can.<\/p>\n So yesterday I ventured forth on a path up a mountain.\u00a0 <\/span>Ahhhh.\u00a0 <\/span>Why did I wait so long???\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Twenty minutes into my hike I came upon a shadow-lined, lichen-covered heart-shaped rock.\u00a0 <\/span>It was like Nature was sending me a valentine.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWelcome, Cindy!\u201d it said.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWe love you.\u00a0 <\/span>Come see us more often.\u201d<\/p>\n With joy, I continued my hike past the rushing clear mountain stream.\u00a0 <\/span>At one point it was not easily crossable because it had swollen too much from recent rains, so I went off-trail and continued climbing up.\u00a0 <\/span>I was treated with beautiful new views of my favorite mountain \u2013 trees and chamisa and prickly pear in the foreground, the great Shining One backdropped against the sky.\u00a0 <\/span>(That\u2019s the name given this mountain by local indigenous tribes: the Shining One.)\u00a0 <\/span>Eventually I found myself back by the beautiful stream, lush green grass, and achingly beautiful white aspens against a stunning blue sky.<\/p>\n I feel so high when I\u2019m immersed in Nature.\u00a0 <\/span>I feel lifted up, I feel nourished, I feel part of the Whole.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s like there is no separation between Creator and Created.<\/p>\n Whoa.\u00a0 <\/span>I find myself startled by that thought.\u00a0 <\/span>I can certainly feel the validity and reality of that statement when I\u2019m talking about mountains and streams and birds and trees.\u00a0 <\/span>There is such majesty and magic and whimsy and beauty in the natural world.\u00a0 <\/span>But WE are Created, too.\u00a0 <\/span>Does that mean there is no separation between God and us????\u00a0 <\/span>Is there majesty and magic and whimsy and beauty in us, creations of the human variety as well?<\/p>\n Well, yes.\u00a0 <\/span>I can see surely God in the eyes of an infant.\u00a0 <\/span>Of course; that is no stretch whatsoever.\u00a0 <\/span>I can feel God in the wisdom of an elder.\u00a0 <\/span>I can sense Goddess in the love and compassion of a good mother.\u00a0 <\/span>But what about the CEO\u2019s of BP, for instance?\u00a0 <\/span>Can I honor them as being one with Creator as well?\u00a0 <\/span>Oh, that\u2019s a tough one for me. What about mentally unstable mass shooters?\u00a0 <\/span>What about Hitler and those responsible for genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda, and on our own soil?\u00a0 <\/span>What about rapists, child molesters, animal abusers?\u00a0 <\/span>Oh, we are a sorry, sorry lot, are we not?\u00a0 <\/span>But is there good in us, too?<\/p>\n Yes.\u00a0 <\/span>There is good in the human race and there is evil.\u00a0 <\/span>We are a mixed lot.\u00a0 <\/span>We can probably all think of \u201cheroes\u201d who have shown their fallibility. It always kind of rocks our boat when someone whom we admire turns out to be imperfect. There are, for instance, rock stars and legendary singers who beat their wives.\u00a0 <\/span>There are political and religious leaders who have had affairs.\u00a0 <\/span>And on the other hand, there are despots who delight in beautiful music or adore their dogs.\u00a0 <\/span>Just as the \u201cgood ones\u201d among us have faults and flaws, so the \u201cevil ones\u201d among us have some modicum of goodness or beauty.<\/p>\n Can we entertain the possibility that within someone who seems irredeemable, absolutely unlovable and \u201cbad,\u201d there could be a tiny spark of something that is beautiful?\u00a0 <\/span>Nelson Mandela and Gandhi both were models for us.\u00a0 <\/span>They were kind to their captors, their prison guards.\u00a0 <\/span>They treated everyone with dignity.\u00a0 <\/span>Mandela\u2019s guards had to be rotated frequently and regularly because he so excelled in befriending them, in reaching their humanity, that they were no longer to be trusted to guard him adequately.<\/p>\n I will always see God in Earth\u2019s beauty, but it will be a lifelong challenge to learn to be able to say or think the word \u201cNamaste\u201d to every single person I meet.\u00a0 <\/span>(Namaste<\/i> is an ancient Sanskrit greeting which basically means, \u201cI bow to the God in you\u201d or \u201cThe God in me honors the God in you.\u201d)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When we can ALL learn to do this \u2013 see and honor the God in everything and everyone, then I believe we will have succeeded in transforming this planet.\u00a0 <\/span>If we learn to look for the good in each other and if we acknowledge that good, that piece of God, then that goodness will grow with our attention.\u00a0 <\/span>(\u201cEnergy flows where attention goes\u201d \u2013 a spiritual law.)\u00a0 <\/span>Conversely, if we focus on the evil, the evil will grow.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look for the good.<\/p>\n Creator and Created, One.\u00a0 <\/span>We are all One.<\/p>\n What a concept.<\/p>\n Namaste.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am ashamed to admit this, but after several months in this gorgeous little mountain town of Colorado, I finally got out there for my first honest-to-goodness hike.\u00a0 And by \u201chike\u201d I mean no macadam roads, more than an hour of walking, in a woods, up a mountain, and probably should have brought some water…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":553,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,3,345,235,338,80,343,123,344,30,346],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beauty","category-blessings","category-created","category-creator","category-evil","category-god","category-hiking","category-mountains","category-namaste","category-nature","category-we-are-one"],"yoast_head":"\n